Morris struggles to sway black voters

Observers point to elite image, corporate background as deficits

On a cool September day, Herman Morris stood on the lawn of his childhood home in Binghamton, recalling the days he played football in the yard.

His home hasn't changed much in 50 years, but the neighborhood has. Just down the street is a cluster of hourly rate motels. Drug dealers and prostitutes work in broad daylight.

Morris, now a successful attorney and former utility executive, moved out of working-class Binghamton long ago and now has an exclusive Midtown address. But he still attends church at his childhood parish and owns his childhood home.

"I haven't forgotten where I came from, and where I came from hasn't forgotten me," Morris told a reporter after a tour of his old neighborhood.

His comment, no doubt, was a retort to critics such as challenger Carol Chumney, who's accused Morris of having "long forgotten" his humble roots by socializing with the elite and powerful and living in a million-dollar mansion.

But for a man who started his legal career as a civil rights attorney and who later led the local branch of the NAACP for eight years, Morris finds himself facing an uphill battle in courting black voters in the race for Memphis mayor.

His conservative demeanor and corporate background have not made it easy for Morris to resonate with incumbent Willie Herenton's base of black voters, many of whom are poor and uneducated, political observers say.

"A large segment of the voters have trouble relating to his current station in life. His challenge is to let them know where he came from," said former Shelby County commissioner Bruce Thompson.

"Herman is not a silver spoon kind of candidate. He started out where most people are in life and worked hard and elevated himself."

Morris has made gains among voters in the African-American community, according to the final mayoral poll commissioned by The Commercial Appeal last week.

Morris was the preferred candidate of just 6 percent of black respondents in the newspaper's July survey, down from 14 percent in April. His support has since grown to 11 percent.

But what the poll also makes clear is that in a city where blacks outnumber non-Hispanic whites by more than a 2-to-1 margin, most black voters remain very loyal to Herenton.

The four-term incumbent was the top choice of African-American respondents at 41 percent.

"They are comfortable with him, and they want to keep him in there," said Randolph Meade Walker, pastor at Castalia Baptist Church and an adjunct professor of African-American history at LeMoyne-Owen College.

Walker said he has seen some shift in support to Morris and other hopefuls from black Memphians who are disturbed by crime and blight, but few are making their views public.

In the poll, Morris saw greater gains among white voters, rising from 21 percent in the July poll to 30 percent this month.

By contrast, Herenton has virtually no support among white voters.

City Councilwoman Chumney leads among white voters with 37 percent, but is the preferred candidate of just 6 percent of black voters.

Among all voters, Herenton is the leader at 24 percent, Morris and Chumney are tied at 19 percent, and 22 percent of voters undecided, according to the poll.

Morris' own campaign has said that capturing about 40 percent of both the black vote and the white vote is the formula for a Morris win. Yet Morris has a ways to go, the poll showed.

In an interview, Morris acknowledged he's struggled to make a dent in Herenton's base.

"Obviously, he's been there 16 years. Certainly, he's known very well," Morris said.

But Morris said he expects his support to continue to build among voters in the final days of the election.

"We're going to bypass everybody by Election Day," he said.

Herenton has tried to minimize Morris' candidacy, saying Morris cannot "mathematically" win the race. The mayor has also framed the election as a race between him and Chumney, who is white.

"I think (Herenton)'s trying to send a message to the black community that it's a black versus white race," said local political consultant Layne Provine, who is not working with any of the candidates for mayor.

"It seems to me that Morris is probably the candidate who has the best ability to attract both black and white voters. And Herenton is more concerned about Morris than he is about Chumney."

Still, Shelby County Commissioner Joe Ford, who tried to unseat Herenton in 1999, said the black community is simply not looking for an alternative to Herenton, no matter what Morris may bring to the table.

"I think Morris is viewed as being capable and highly qualified," Ford said. "But I don't think blacks are ready to change course right now."